Child Exploitation.org
Asia
The Dark Fate of Nepali Children
Bhuwan Thapaliya - 10/24/2005
Nepal is located at the tassel of South Asian politics and receives very little international
attention. Yet the mounting conflict deserves the world's attention, not only because of its
intrinsic interest, but also because of the wider, very serious implications it has for the
stability of the region.
Nepal is embroiled in a conflict -- between the government of Nepal and the Maoist
insurgency -- that has alienated the country, bringing it to the brink of outright civil war.
Nepalese now find themselves caught in the middle of an essentially losing war, and many
of the children -- the future of Nepal -- have been forced to flee the countryside, leaving
behind their innocence and childhood.
Children Exposed to Violence
Many children in Nepal are growing up in an environment shaped by guns, bombs, and
strikes amid the fear of uncertain consequences. They live in a constant state of fear,
frustration and insecurity. They are physically constrained and psychologically devastated
by the status quo of their nation.
The devastation of the Asian tsunami in December 2004 has highlighted the global crisis of
child sex tourism. The potential increase of the child sex trade in the wake of such a
devastating natural disaster has shocked and educated many in the West.
It is North America and Europe, however, that have been driving the multi-billion-dollar
global child sex tourism industry all along. American citizens alone comprise 25 percent of
the industry, according to ECPAT-USA, an organization fighting sexual child abuse. These
Americans travel overseas and pay to have sex with boys and girls, mainly 5-to-14-year-
olds.
Globally, according to UNICEF, there are an estimated 2 million children currently in
prostitution. While children in prostitution find themselves there for various reasons - some
are sold by their poverty-stricken parents, some are tricked into debt, some literally
captured and enslaved - it is Western culture that drives this nefarious economic force.
Without the West, the child sex tourism industry would not flourish.
"An estimated 800,000 children below the age of 16 work as prostitutes in Thailand, of
which 200,000 are under the age of 12," reports Dr. Siroj Sorajjakool, associate professor
of Religion at Loma Linda University (LLU). "How can such a situation not demand our
attention as Christians who are committed to human rights and the protection of children?"
Sorajjakool is coordinating efforts to address one of the primary concerns-that 90 percent
of children who quit school end up in prostitution. He works together with activists and aid
agencies to try to keep children in school, so that they can learn skills and gain education
for employment away from the sex trade.
"My contribution is to highlight and increase awareness, to raise funds to provide for better
education opportunities, and to work with others who are addressing this terrible curse,"
says Sorajjakool, who is originally from Thailand. He assists Mrs. Ladawan Wongsriwong, a
Thai politician and former Member of Parliament who has helped implement a scheme to try
and ensure that all Thai children remain in school.
"Ten years ago I met a little girl who came crying to me, saying her mother wanted to sell
her," he continues. "Since then this problem has been of great concern to me, something
that I want to do something about."
Hong Kong has no laws treating child pornography as a specific offense. The 11 March
decision of a stiff sentence for posting child pornography on the internet should serve as a
wake-up call that Hong Kong has a moral obligation - and an obligation under the
Convention on the Rights of the Child - to prevent the commercial sexual exploitation of
children. Hong Kong needs specific child protection legislation against both child
pornography and Hong Kong-based child sex tourism.
The Government does not keep statistics on seizures of pornographic materials or
prosecutions for distributing pornography specific to children. However informal Police
Department figures reveal that child pornography in Hong Kong is a problem. Child
pornographic materials seized by the Police in the past three years include 500 magazines,
53 video tapes and 405 floppy disks. During that same period the Police uncovered 30
websites, 28 newsgroups and 31 bulletin board systems, one with 1,295 active users,
created by Hong Kong-based pedophiles. The significant amount of internet-based
materials indicates a local market in cyber-porn that poses a threat in and outside of Hong
Kong. There is no legislative basis on which to prosecute those caught using these
materials, and no specific basis on which to prosecute those involved in pornography
relating to children.
Child Labor in Asia: A Review
Edelweiss F. Silan
ILO estimates that there are about 250 million economically active children (individuals
below 18 years old) worldwide. Sixty one percent or roughly 153 million of these workers
are in Asia. Around half of the economically active children are working full time and 20-
30%, or about 30 to 46 million are in exploitative conditions or worst forms of child labor.
In Asia, many of these child laborers, some as young as seven years old, are hidden. They
work as household help, workers in farming and fishing industries, providers of sex
services, workers in quarries, mines, brick kilns, construction sites, and increasingly in drug
trade. A lot more in many Asian societies live in full public view as scavengers, street
beggars, vendors, and workers in small scale or home-based industries. Since these types
of work are considered "informal," regulation of the industries does not exist and monitoring
the presence of children in the workplace is not commonly done.
The Worst Forms of Child Labor in Asia
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
Exploitation of children in commercial sex trade remains the worst form of child labor in our
region. UNICEF estimates that about one million children are lured or forced into the sex
trade in Asia every year. More alarming is the fact that many of these children were
introduced into the work by people known to them. For example, the 1995 Situation
Analysis on Trafficking and Prostitution in Cambodia reveals that half of the surveyed sex
workers eighteen years old and below reported that they were forced into the trade. Half of
them were sold or deceived by someone they knew, forty percent were sold by parents,
and fifteen percent were sold by relatives.
Trafficking of Children
The exploitation of children in the commercial sex trade is supported by increased
trafficking activity in the region by organized syndicates. Trafficking for other jobs has also
increased.
Trafficking of both children and adults feeds largely on the desire of poor families and
many young people for economic and personal advancement through migration for work.
Trafficking routes are found within countries, from rural to urban centers or to areas with
large demand for unskilled labor, and across borders, usually from less developed to
developing countries.
In Southeast Asia, Thailand is believed to be the receiver of a large number of children
trafficked from Laos, Cambodia, Burma, and China, with the majority coming from Burma.
The children are made to work as prostitutes, household help, workers in factories, farms,
and fishing vessels, or couriers of drug traffickers. It is estimated that the number of
children working as prostitutes in Thailand is somewhere between 27,400 and 44,900,
including foreign and ethnic Thai children.
Chinese and Vietnamese children are trafficked to Cambodia mostly for prostitution. In the
Philippines, there are reports of girls as young as 14 years old encouraged by parents to
go to Japan to work as entertainers. They are brought to Japan with tampered passports,
changing their date of birth to meet the age criterion. There are reports of Indonesian
children being brought to Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan for domestic and farm work, or
even for work in small factories.
In-country trafficking is rampant in Vietnam and the Philippines for domestic and factory
work, and again for prostitution.
In South Asia, Bangladeshi children are trafficked for prostitution, forced and bonded labor,
camel jockeying, marriage, and even sale of organs. Bangladeshi children can be found in
the main cities of India, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Middle East countries. Maiti Nepal, an NGO
based in Kathmandu, estimates that between 5,000 to 7,000 girls are trafficked to India
annually for prostitution. Boys are trafficked too, for work in the construction industry, brick
kilns, tea plantations, and manufacturing industry. Pakistan is seen as a receiving country
for Indian and Nepali children to work in farming, fishing, and sex industries.
Geneva (AsiaNews) – As the school year began yesterday in many Western countries, the
world celebrated International Literacy Day. Organised under the auspices of UNESCO, the
event had “Literacy and Gender” as its main theme. According to the UN agency’s own
data there are 860 million illiterate adults, more than two thirds women. The number of
minors not attending school exceeds 110 million, 56 per cent girls.
Illiteracy is directly related to poverty and underdevelopment, circumstances that force
millions of children to leave school before they become fully literate and work in conditions
where they are easily exploited. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has estimated
that throughout the world, 250 million children, aged between five and 17, were engaged in
child labour, 155 million in Asia alone.
In Asia child labour has become a virtual system that is particularly abusive of girls. Sexual
exploitation has in fact become a major social ill in many Asian societies. Many girls are
forced into prostitution in countries like Cambodia, Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Pakistan.
“About one million children are lured or forced into the sex trade in Asia every year,”
reports Child Workers in Asia, an organisation fighting child exploitation. “A more alarming
fact is that people known to them introduce many of these children into the work,” it adds.
Children in Asia are used in different types of work: farming, making leather goods, stone-
cutting, mining, toy making, textiles, making brick in kilns, construction, dumpsites. The
problem is accentuated by western multinational companies setting up Asian branch plants
in many manufacturing sectors, especially textile.
Mr. BURTON of Indiana: Mr. Speaker, much attention was appropriately focussed on
human rights abuses by the Indian Government against minorities in Kashmir and Punjab
during recent consideration of H.R. 1868, the foreign aid appropriations bill for 1996.
However, there exists another little-known human rights problem in India, which is every bit
as grave. This problem, which received little discussion, is the exploitation of child labor.
The United States Government and the international community have paid little attention to
the prolific employment of young children. It is time to attend to this neglect. Child labor in
India is a grave and extensive problem. Children under the age of 14 are forced to work in
glass-blowing, fireworks, and most commonly, carpet-making factories. While the
Government of India reports about 20 million children laborers, other non-governmental
organizations estimate the number to be closer to 50 million. Most prevalent in the northern
part of India, the exploitation of child labor has become an accepted practice, and is viewed
by the local population as necessary to overcome the extreme poverty in the region. Child
labor is one of the main components of the carpet industry. Factories pay children
extremely low wages, for which adults refuse to work, while forcing the youngsters to slave
under perilous and unhygienic labor conditions. Many of these children are migrant
workers, the majority coming from northern India, who are sent away by their families to
earn an income sent directly home. Thus, children are forced to endure the despicable
conditions of the carpet factories, as their families depend on their wages. The situation of
the children at the factories is desperate. Most work around 12 hours a day, with only small
breaks for meals. Ill-nourished, the children are very often fed only minimal staples. The
vast majority of migrant child workers who cannot return home at night sleep alongside of
their loom, further inviting sickness and poor health. Taking aggressive action to eliminate
this problem is difficult in a nation where 75 percent of the population lives in rural areas,
most often stricken by poverty. Children are viewed as a form of economic security in this
desolate setting, necessary to help supplement their families' income. Parents often
sacrifice their children's education, as offspring are often expected to uphold their roles as
wage-earning members of their clan. The Indian Government has taken some steps to
alleviate this monumental problem. In 1989, India invoked a law that made the employment
of children under age 14 illegal, except in family-owned factories. However, this law is rarely
followed, and does not apply to the employment of family members. Thus, factories often
circumvent the law through claims of hiring distant family. Also, in rural areas, there are few
enforcement mechanisms, and punishment for factories violating the mandate is minimal, if
not nonexistent. Legal action taken against the proliferation of child labor often produces
few results. Laws against such abuses have little effect in a nation where this abhorred
practice is accepted as being necessary for poor families to earn an income. Thus, an
extensive reform process is necessary to eliminate the proliferation of child labor abuses in
India which strives to end the desperate poverty in the nation. Changing the structure of
the workforce and hiring the high number of currently unemployed adults in greatly
improved work conditions is only the first step in this lengthy process. New labor standards
and wages must be adopted and medical examinations and minimum nutrition requirements
must be established in India. Establishing schools and eliminating the rampant illiteracy that
plagues the country would work to preserve structural changes. However, these changes
cannot be accomplished immediately.
Commercial sexual exploitation of children, IT and the tourism industry
Midway through the current decade, our increasingly interconnected world faces a number
of new challenges and opportunities. The era of globalisation, vaunted at some times and
disdained at others, is watching information technology take precedence over all other
forms of technological know-how. While government administrations negotiate the
acquisition of new warfare-related technologies, new transportation machinery and energy
expertise; it seems that at the core of it all is the issue of managing information and cyber
highways. In fact, these all important enhanced information technologies offer citizens
around the world communication opportunities never dreamed of previously.
Coupled with the ever-expanding transportation and travel industries; telecommunications
and the cyber world have opened new vistas for people and cultures to engage with each
other. This is both exciting and intimidating.
While rarely given the same importance as the threat of terrorism or war, the issue of child
protection in this technologically-savvy age is a grave concern. There is no doubt that the
simultaneous growth of the IT industry and the travel sector has placed children living in
tourism destinations at greater risk of sexual exploitation by foreign tourists as well as
domestic ones. South Asia is no exception to this trend. In fact, certain research projects
have revealed that the tourist destinations of South Asia are witnessing an increase in the
vulnerabilities of children to sexual exploitation and abuse.
Though not a new phenomenon in South Asia, child sex tourism (CST), also labeled sexual
exploitation of children in tourism (SECT), is being observed at more close quarters now.
The issue of commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is the use of children for the
sexual gratification of an adult in exchange for cash, food or some other form of
consideration, usually given to a third party. CSEC can fall under a number of categories:
child prostitution, child pornography or the trafficking of children for sexual purposes.
Subset forms of CSEC include early marriage or compensated dating ( Enjo kôsai, or
“dating for assistance”, in English usually called compensated dating, is a practice in Japan
where high school-aged girls are paid by older men to accompany them on dates and/or to
render sexual services. Most observers, especially overseas, regard it as a form of
prostitution). Child sex tourism or sexual exploitation of children in tourism is another subset
of CSEC. It is defined as the commercial sexual exploitation of children by a person or
persons travelling outside their home country or region. It can be perpetrated by both
citizens of a foreign country or by domestic nationals.
In the past, certain countries have been severely affected by this problem, notably
Thailand, Brazil and the Philippines. Despite making significant strides in combating this
violation of children’s rights and physical integrity, these countries are still struggling to
prevent abuse by domestic and international culprits.
In the South Asian region, certain areas have been documented as child sex tourism
destinations over the past decade. In particular, coastal areas of Sri Lanka and Goa in
India have been considered the hubs for this trade. These areas were well known within the
paedophilia circles as places with easy access to children. Action has been taken by local
authorities to stem the flow of child sex tourists into the affected tourist destinations but the
issue remains a pressing one. Fortunately, a number of South Asian countries remain
relatively free from the scourge. The sea and sun destination of the Maldives has not yet
been tainted, nor have Bhutan, Pakistan or Bangladesh shown much evidence of sexual
exploitation of children in tourism, even though the problem persists in the local prostitution
circuit on a large scale.
PressPass: Is child exploitation a big issue for you in Asia Pacific?
Sauer: Because of the wide cultural gap and wide gap between the rich and the poor,
countries in Southeast Asia are a lot more vulnerable to these social issues. There is a role
that we can play as a responsible corporate citizen. We have technical and training
expertise as well as software and technology that can help make it easier for law
enforcement officers to track down sex predators. And that is exactly what we must do as
an industry leader and citizen. There are children as young as five years old who are sex
abuse victims. And without having the right tools and facilities, law enforcement agencies in
these countries are finding it very hard to track down sex predators who are growing bolder
by the day.
PressPass: How do sex predators use computers to further their criminal acts?
Sauer: Sex predators today are using sophisticated ways to network. They network on
theInternet; they plan tours to Cambodia and other poor countries to pursue their interest;
they trade news of police actions and exchange intelligence on local facilitators, etc. They
utilize bulletin boards and chat rooms, and use personal e-mails to correspond. They
distribute photographs of their exploits via the Net. And in countries like Cambodia where
there is simply no infrastructure, it becomes even more difficult to track these pedophiles
down.
PressPass: How are law-enforcement agencies being trained these two weeks in
Cambodia?
Sauer: We are working very closely with the British Embassy to bring this course together.
We have over 150 attendees from Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia who want to find out
more about how they can use technology effectively to track down pedophiles – something
which they have not been able to learn or do so far.
We have three tracks organized at this two-week training course. The first one is targeted
at law enforcers and judiciary groups, with a focus on investigating and prosecuting child
sex abuses and the impact of technology. The second track, targeted at the civil society
group, focuses on how one can develop child advocates – supporting child safety
investigations and protecting children. Lastly, prosecutors and legal professionals can
benefit from a workshop that explains the legality behind child sexual abuse, prosecutions
and the impact of technology.
We’re hoping that this training session will help the law-enforcement agencies be more
active in what seems to be a growing social issue in Cambodia.
PressPass: What else have you done in the other Southeast Asia countries to combat this
growing problem?
Sauer: We have partnered with a few NGOs in other Southeast Asia countries, and we are
exploring other government partnerships. It is very important that we establish a good
public-private partnership in order to work closer together. There is a long road ahead of
us. We are hoping that with the training course that we have put together with the British
Embassy we can continue to raise awareness and put together a coalition that will help
eradicate the problem.
Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - Thousands of Australians are involved in the
commercial child sex industry, according to a comprehensive new survey, published as
delegates prepare Monday for an international congress in Japan on the sexual
exploitation of children.
The report's release also coincides with a controversial new advertising campaign in
Australia aimed at heightening awareness about child sex, a drive some campaigners fear
may do more harm than good.
Published by the local charity Childwise, the report comes after a 10-year study, and says
there is an alarming rise in the number of Australian men traveling abroad to have sex with
children. Child pornography - particularly on the Internet - child prostitution and trafficking
are also growing problems, it says
Many Australian serial abusers are going abroad, particularly to Asian destinations, for
child sex tours, according to Bernadette McMenamin, Childwise director and the report's
author
Most children involved in the commercial sex trade are aged 12-15, although many are
under 10, she said.
The problem is not just found abroad, McMenamin said. In Australia, girls as young as 12
and 13 have been found selling sex on city streets.
Living Conditions
Live-in domestic workers rely on the good will of their employers to provide them
adequate and humane living accommodations, as well as sufficient and quality
food. Human Rights Watch interviewed girls who described their living quarters as
small, window-less storage rooms. Some girls told us that they slept on the floor in
the children’s rooms. All of the child domestics we interviewed said they were
provided food by their employer, although the freshness and quantity of food varied.
Some girls told us that they were given only one meal a day and remained hungry,
while others said that they were given stale and left-over food. Some girls ate the
same food as the family.
Lastri, fifteen, told us, “I had no time to eat food because every time I sat down to
eat I was ordered to work. I was given stale two-day-old food. I was often hungry
because the food was stale and I could not eat it. I ate on different plates than the
employer.” Lastri said she slept in an open garage sheltered only by a curtain.115
Kartika began working as a domestic when she was fourteen. She told us that she
slept in a room used for ironing clothes and storing boxes and newspapers. “I slept
on a kasur [mattress]. There was a small window with vents, but the rain would
come in through the window,” she said. She recalled, “The boxes would sometimes
fall on me.” Kartika informed us that she was given food once a day, which she had
to portion into three meals a day. She told us that she “was always hungry.”116
Rohani began working as a domestic when she was fourteen. She said that she
slept in the storage room and described it “as a room for a domestic worker as you
can imagine. There was no window. There were boxes in the room and old
newspapers. I kept my belongings in a suitcase.”117
Vina, who began domestic work at age thirteen, told us that she slept in a small,
windowless storage room for newspapers. She recounted, “The employer would
give me food once a day, but if I ate more than that she would shout at me and call
me ‘pig.’ I was hungry, that’s why I would take a little more food.”118 Staff of an
Indonesian NGO working with child domestics described a case they documented
in 2003 in which the child domestic worker, who worked for her uncle, was not given
enough food to eat. After cooking the meal for the family, the NGO staff said, the
employer would lock the food in the cupboard and give the child only a single
portion of rice or a packet of instant noodles for the day.
Domestic Workers in Indonesia
Domestic work in Indonesia, and around the world, is performed largely by women
and girls and is often considered a natural extension of women’s work in society,
namely the maintenance of the home and family. The work is situated in the private
sphere and is unregulated and shielded from public scrutiny. The ILO estimates
that more girls under sixteen work in domestic service than in any other category of
child labor worldwide.16 Because it is performed predominantly by women and
girls, and is frequently seen as an extension of unpaid daily household work,
domestic work is considered as unskilled and menial labor.17 Notably, domestic
workers are commonly referred to as “pembantu”(helpers) and not “pekerja”
(workers) by both the government and employers. This description is convenient as
it suggests that their labor is non-remunerative.
Family members of domestic workers as well as suppliers of domestic workers
Human Rights Watch spoke with indicated that domestic work is done
predominantly by girls. For instance, when we asked a family member of a
domestic worker whether any boys in their family are domestics, the family member
laughed and said, “No boys work as domestic workers . . . because the pay is too
low to support a family;” instead they “work in the factory.”18 Similarly, an official
from a domestic worker supplier agency told us, “Most here [agency] are girls. But
some boys come to our company. We place them as drivers, security, [and]
gardening. Sometimes boys come, but they prefer to go to factories rather than
homes.”19
In Indonesia, domestic service traditionally was not regarded as formal
employment, but as an informal relationship between the employer and the
domestic.20 The remuneration for such service was typically accommodation,
food, or a small monetary gift at Eid-ul-Fitr, rather than regular wages.21 In
Javanese tradition, taking poor relatives into the household was known as the
ngenger custom. Under this tradition, young boys and girls would leave their
villages to live with a prosperous uncle or aunt or acquaintance of the family on the
premise that the children would be sent to school and would be taken care of. In
return, these children were expected to do household work.22 Whatever may have
been the case historically, current practices are a far cry from such romanticized
notions.
Discrimination against the Girl Child
While children around the world continue to face various forms of adversity in the 21
st century, girl children in particular are subjected to multiple forms of oppression,
exploitation, and discrimination due to their gender. United Nations statistics,
national reports and studies initiated by non-governmental organizations repeatedly
show that girls, as a group, have lower literacy rates, receive less health care, and
are more often impoverished than boys.[1] It is also important to note these
conditions, more often than not, do not improve as girls grow to become women.
Forms of discrimination against girl children are numerous and vary depending on
the traditions, history, and culture of a particular society. In our work to improve the
condition of girls, Youth Advocate Program International focuses on three life-
threatening practices that impact the lives of millions of girl children – female
infanticide, female genital cutting, and honor killing.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) defines a child as a person under
the age of 18 unless national laws recognize the age of majority earlier. The age of
18 is now accepted as the world standard, since every country has ratified the CRC
except Somalia and the United States . Although YAP International specifically
advocates for ending discrimination against girls, we realize efforts to curtail gender
discrimination must include strategies that continue to support women when they
reach and pass age 18.
Female Infanticide and Sex-Selective Abortion
Female infanticide is the murder of a young girl child, often occurring as a
deliberate murder of a girl infant or young girl child or as the result of neglect.
Selective abortion – also called gender-selective abortion, sex-selective abortion,
or female feticide – is the abortion of a fetus because it is female. Medical
technology has made it possible for parents to discover the sex of a fetus at earlier
and earlier stages of pregnancy, so many women from communities with a
preference for boys practice selective abortion.
These practices occur most frequently in societies where a girl child is viewed as
culturally and economically less advantageous than a boy child. Female infanticide
has been reported in China, North Korea, South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Nepal,
Pakistan), the Middle East (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia,
Turkey) and parts of Africa (Cameroon, Liberia, Madagascar, Senegal, Nigeria).
Female infanticide and feticide are predominantly practiced in regions of significant
poverty and overpopulation. One reason boys are more valued than girls is
preserving lineage, as family lineage and family name are carried only by males in
most societies. Also, children are expected to care for parents in their old age in
many countries, so raising a son becomes a better investment because once a girl
marries, she becomes the property of her husband and of virtually no value to her
parents. Some women resort to female infanticide and feticide in order to protect
their daughters from a life of objectification and subjugation in a society dominated
by men, where there is a prevalent anti-girl attitude.
Economically, girls often have a lower earning potential than boys, as boys are
more likely to find work and receive higher pay. This is significant in poor
communities where each family member is expected to add to the household
income. A girl can no longer contribute to her family's income after marriage when
she must turn all of her wages over to her husband. In many situations, it is much
more of an economic burden to raise a girl, as many cultures require religious and
social ceremonies for girls but not boys. Holding a “proper” ceremony for the
purpose of maintaining respectable social stature can be very expensive, often
leaving poor families with nothing.
Mothers are not the only perpetrators of female infanticide and feticide, as more
dominant members of the immediate family, such as the husband or mother-in-law,
often encourage or carry out the deed. In addition, women may experience pressure
from members of their community, possibly facing physical abuse, disownment from
their husband or parents, and homelessness if they choose to keep a child against
the direction of others.
A wealth of information on female infanticide and selective abortion has come from
the world's two most populous nations: India and China . Both countries are
predominantly patriarchal, and it is the cultural norm for a girl to leave her family for
her husband's after marriage. India continues the practice of dowry, although illegal,
which makes female children especially undesirable as large sums of money must
be paid at the time of marriage. For this reason, female infanticide is especially
prevalent in rural areas and among lower castes. In China , with the induction of the
People's Republic in 1949, the practice of female infanticide was largely
abandoned.[2] However, cases of “missing” women increased in the 1980's, a
phenomenon correlated with the one child policy that was launched in 1979 to
control exorbitant population growth.[3] With this stringent law, many families chose
to keep a boy child over a girl child because sons can take care of their parents
through old age, while daughters are handed over to another person's family.
Sex-selective abortion and female infanticide have had consequences beyond the
loss of many females' lives. They have contributed to the dramatic change in the
ratio of men to women in some countries. As fewer men can find women to marry in
societies where these practices are widespread, the trafficking of women from
foreign countries to sell as wives has become a profitable business. Some
adoption agencies take advantage of the devaluation of girls and solicit
impoverished families to sell their daughters so they may be adopted overseas.
Countries like India and China have criminalized female infanticide, although local
law enforcement often ignores cases. For example, many doctors in China and
India , whose practices are limited to providing sex-selective abortion, are not
reprimanded. As legislation and law enforcement cannot guarantee the elimination
of these practices, public awareness of the issues and grassroots support of local
communities are essential to prevent and eradicate female infanticide and sex-
selective abortion. Progress has been made in India where the government has
taken steps to implement programs to educate the public and have encouraged
NGOs to take action against these practices.
Female Genital Cutting
Female Genital Cutting (FGC) refers to any practice that involves the removal or the
alteration of the female genitalia. It is a centuries-old cultural practice found in many
countries among people following various religions and beliefs, but is most
prevalent in Africa . Other terms for FGC include female genital mutilation, female
genital circumcision, female genital operations, or clitoridectomies.
According to the United Nations Population Fund, “it is estimated that over 130
million girls and women have undergone some form of genital cutting and at least
two million girls are at risk of undergoing the practice every year.”[4] FGC is
reportedly practiced in 28 of Africa 's 43 countries, most pervasive in Egypt, Eritrea,
Mali, Sudan, and the Central African Republic.[5] In the Middle East, FGC is found
in Oman, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates . Some immigrant populations in
the United States, Latin America, and Asia (Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia)
practice FGC as well.
Studies done in areas where FGC is widespread suggest there is a direct
correlation between a women's attitude toward FGC and her place of residence,
educational background, and work status. According to the results of a health
survey in Egypt , urban women are less likely than rural women to support FGC.
There was less support for FGC among women who were employed and among
women who had at least a secondary-level education.
Research on FGC shows there are short and long-term health effects on girls.
Immediate effects include hemorrhaging, pain and shock; severe bleeding, and the
inability to urinate have caused the death of many girls. Girls may develop infections
such as tetanus, hepatitis, and HIV. Chronic bladder and pelvic infections, infertility,
the development of excessive scar tissue, cysts at the site of the procedure, and
problems during or after childbirth are among the possible long-term complications.
In addition, sexual intercourse can be very painful or dangerous after FGC, and
many women become unable to experience sexual fulfillment. Scientific evidence
for psychology effects of FGC on girls is more scarce; however, personal accounts
reveal that girls who have undergone FGC may suffer from anxiety, terror,
humiliation, betrayal, and depression.[6]
Custom and tradition are the most frequently cited reasons behind FGC.[7] Other
factors include the role of FGC in confirming femininity in some cultures, controlling
the sexual behavior of a woman, and preserving aesthetics and cleanliness in
cultures that view parts of the female genitalia as dirty or dangerous.[8] Religious
justifications are sometimes cited, mostly by Muslims who practice FGC. However,
the practice outdates Islam, the majority of Muslims do not practice FGC, and some
Islamic leaders deny any link between their religion and FGC. Most other FGC
practicing communities adhere to traditional Animist religions.[9]
Among the obstacles to eradicating the practice of female genital cutting is the fact
that many women, often the victims of the procedure, consider FGC a valuable
cultural tradition, and in some cases necessary to be eligible for marriage.
Fortunately, progress has been made though education, legislation, and campaigns
to raise awareness. Research has shown a positive correlation between the
number of people attending secondary school and the number of people opposed
to FGC. Consequently, with more educational opportunities for girls in many
countries, there will be more female opposition to the procedure. Several African
countries have legislated against FGC, and other national governments support the
eradication. Human rights organizations, like the World Health Organization (WHO),
oppose the medicalization of FGC in any form and favor complete elimination.
However, in some communities, milder forms of FGC remain legal, and thus
legitimate.
Honor Killing
Honor killing is the practice of killing girls and women who are perceived to have
defiled a family's honor by allegedly engaging in sexual activity or other
improprieties before marriage or outside of marriage. “Improper” behavior justifies
grounds for killing, however, has expanded to include transgressions that are not
initiated by the girl, including rape, incest, sexual abuse, or sexual rumor. A girl is
killed most often by male kin – father, husband, brother, uncle, or cousin - to restore
honor to her family. Criminal penalties for honor killing are lenient in countries where
this practice is most prevalent.
Because many cases go unreported, it is difficult to determine the number of
women who are the victims of honor killing. The United Nations Population Fund
(UNPF) estimates as many as 5,000 females are being killed each year as a result
of honor killings.[10] Honor killing occurs most frequently in Muslim countries,
although neither Islamic religion nor law sanctions the practice. Other countries
where such killings have been reported include Bangladesh, Britain, Brazil,
Ecuador, Egypt, India, Israel, Italy, Norway, Jordan, Pakistan, Peru, Morocco,
Sweden, Turkey, Uganda, and Venezuela .
Violations of honor include engaging in an illicit sexual relationship, eloping, being
raped, being sexually abused by a family member and then running away, seeking
divorce, and being seen alone with a man or boy even if the interaction is innocent.
Some children are killed for being born to a mother who is accused of violating a
family's honor. Allegations of these activities or other improprieties are enough to
instigate honor killings, often little or no proof is necessary. Depending on the
country, community, and specific situation, girls can be strangled, shot, beaten to
death, stabbed, hacked to death, or in some cases, burned.
In communalistic societies, actions committed by any family member affect the
social stature of the entire family. The family's reputation comes before an
individual's interests or safety. Men in many societies consider their family's honor
to be inextricably tied to their own honor, and thus perform honor killings to cleanse
the family's name from the improper deeds of girls or women. Particularly in Arab
and Islamic communities, a family's honor is often determined by the actions of its
girls and women. Also, patriarchal traditions force women to face the odd duality of
being perceived as both fragile beings who need male protection, and evil persons
who threaten to taint society.
The punishment for men who commit honor killings is often non-existent or
extremely lenient. In some cases, judges extend light sentences because they often
empathize with men who claim to have killed in defense of their honor. Legislation in
some countries condones honor killings. In Iraq , Iran , and Pakistan , men are
allowed to kill their wives for adultery. Egyptian law allows for a husband to receive
a reduced sentence if he can prove he killed her in defense of his honor. However,
countries like Lebanon and Jordan have made progress towards giving more
severe punishment for perpetrators. According to former Article 340 of Jordan's
penal code, “A husband or a close blood relative who kills a woman caught in a
situation highly suspicious of adultery will be totally exempt from sentence.”[11] In
December 2001, this article was revised to allow a reduction in penalty only if the
murder is committed immediately following the first-hand sighting of the victim in the
act of committing adultery.[12]
Significant steps have been taken in the last decade to stop the practice of honor
killing and to hold men who murder female family members more accountable for
their actions. Public awareness of the issue has increased, as mass media, non-
governmental organizations, and international organizations like the United Nations
are examining the problem and taking action to eliminate the practice. In 1994, a
Jordanian journalist, Rana Husseni, began writing articles that exposed cases of
honor killing in the Jordan Times, an English-language publication. Soon other
newspapers and publications followed, and a national campaign to end honor killing
was born. In June 1999, representatives from Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen,
Syria, and Jordan attended a two-day conference on the “prevention of honor
crimes” that has led to further efforts by governments to take a firm stand and
effective action against honor killing.
By Suvendrini Kakuchi
YOKOHAMA, Japan, Dec 20 (IPS) - Saman (not his real name) was 12 years old
when he was lured into becoming the sex partner of a foreign man living in a large
house in a famous beach resort in Sri Lanka .
''I first went because I was offered work by the man who wanted me to weed the
garden. A few weeks later I was seduced by my master in his swimming pool,'' he
later told a counselor.
''I kept seeing him because I could send money to my mother, who was working
alone to support my five siblings and also because he showed me a lot of love and
affection,'' he added. Saman is one of the estimated 30,000 male children in Sri
Lanka known as ''beach boys''.
Often, they get money or material goods in return for sex -- and this has become an
integral part of the sexual services in tropical tourist destinations across the globe.
Experts who met at the Second World Congress for the Commercial Exploitation of
Children, which ended Thursday, report that the number of male children working as
prostitutes, beggars or cheap labour is growing. The issue of child soldiers, as
young as eight years old, is another form of male child abuse, they add.
But experts also point out that the sexual exploitation of boys was often sidelined at
the high-profile international conference, where the focus was more on the sexual
exploitation of girls, since most of the time they are most affected by sexual abuse.
''Statistics for abused boys are hard to come by, but definitely, there is an urgent
need to address this gender problem because boys must be protected,'' says
Irwanto, an Indonesian researcher on street children at the Centre for Societal
Development Studies at Atma Jaya Catholic University.
Most of the huge number of reports presented at the conference here detailed
research on girls, and referred to boys under the general category of children.
The lack of a workshop to discuss male victims - there were more than 100
workshops in the four-day conference -- is also a telling example of the haziness
covering the issue, they say.
''Indeed, girls need to be protected as they are the main victims in sex crimes.
Violated boys, however, also suffer severe trauma,'' says Guy Thompstone, a
training coordinator at End Child Prostitution and Trafficking of Children (ECPAT),
a non-governmental organisation and co-organiser of the Yokohama conference.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that there are 250 million
working children, between the ages of seven to 14 years, around the world.
Boys comprise the majority of those in bonded labour, drug trafficking, and other
types of hazardous work that put them under constant threat of harm and even death.
Experts say the overwhelming number of street children are boys. They are often
forced to beg and peddle drugs or act as pimps for girls. Widespread cases of
sexual abuse and violence by their peers and exploiters have been recorded.
''In most societies, there is a lot less sympathy for boys. The macho culture expects
them to be strong and not express emotions easily even after they are abused,''
says Irwanto, who uses only one name.
There is no gender disparity between the causes of the sexual exploitation of boys
and girls, say activists and experts who attended the Yokohama congress.
Male children, like girls, belong to poor families, seek work to support their families,
and are illiterate.
Thompstone, who has worked with boys in Britain, his home country, says that
street children in developed countries are also not that different from their
counterparts from the South. They belong to poor and dysfunctional families, and
some children are from refugee families.
However, boys make most of their money from soliciting drugs on the streets,
followed by prostitution. They are solicited into homosexual communities, which
encourage them to depend on goods and presents in return for sexual services.
Thompstone says boys, some as young as 12 years old, are vulnerable to health
risks as a result of their sexual abuse and exploitation. Not least, some suffer
physical damage as a result of forced sexual encounters.
According to counselors, another gender difference is boys tend to be more
aggressive and enter into risky sexual behaviour, a trait that puts them at a
disadvantage compared to their female counterparts.
Likewise, they are more likely to face harsher abuse by police officers who would
arrest and put them in prison for crimes -- instead of seeing them as victims and
sending them into rehabilitation programmes like the girls who are sexually
exploited, says Thompstone.
Parvin Patkar, director of an anti-trafficking centre in Perana, India, says the number
of boys in the red light districts of India is increasing. India is also recording the
trafficking of male children to the Middle East to work as camel jockeys.
Says Patkar, ''There is a demand for boy prostitutes from both foreign and local
clients. What is sad is the lack of rehabilitation programmes to suit their particular
needs.''
A paper on the trafficking of Albanian children to Italy, released during the
Yokohama meeting, cites that a 1998-99 investigation into 600 cases that showed
80 percent of the trafficked children were boys.
A report on China by the non-governmental group Save the Children indicates
mostly boys under seven years old are trafficked for adoption - because of the
desire for sons -- while young women are abducted to become brides for Chinese
bachelors in towns and villagers.
YOKOHAMA, Japan, Dec 17 (IPS) - ''What if a child wants to work? Is that child
labour or a working child?'' asked a Filipino youngster in a workshop at the ongoing
global congress on the commercial sexual exploitation of children here .
''Why haven't all the countries approved the Convention on the Rights of the Child?''
a teener asked. ''What are you doing to get the United States to support it?''
''We met some young women at the Manila airport and they were going to Japan to
work as entertainers,'' explained one Filipino participant. ''Why does Japan accept
them, when they are young girls?''
These were some of the probing questions young people asked Monday of
speakers from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to the United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF), with people like Princess Tamakado of Japan and
Queen Silvia of Sweden in the audience.
Some questions, especially those about the U.S. government's non-ratification of
the child rights convention, drew smiles from some, who said they found the queries
not simple ones to answer at the Second World Congress against Commercial
Sexual Exploitation of Children.
In reply, Kati Tapiola, ILO executive director of the standards and fundamental
principles and rights at work, explained to some 70 young people in the discussion
the distinction between work a child might want to do periodically and the type of
heavy work that makes it child labour.
The children did not hold their punches, with one asking Tapiola: ''Why doesn't the
ILO call child labour like it is (exploitation)?''
Tapiola agreed that conditions that force children into heavy, risky work ''have to be
understood as exploitation, which poverty cannot justify''.
UNICEF executive director Carol Bellamy had her share of tough questions about
the child rights convention. She explained that Washington is one of two countries -
the other being Somalia - that have not yet ratified it because of a traditionally wary
attitude toward any chance of compromising the rights of states.
''This is a mistaken view'' because countries have not experienced any weakening
of state power because of such internationally binding treaties, she added.
The workshop underscored the high profile that young people have at the
Yokohama conference, where greetings of ''distinguished delegates and young
people'' have become oft-heard ones.
There are 90 young people out of 3,300 attending the congress. Some, like that
from Sweden, are part of their governments' delegations.
The young people, who come from Asia, Africa, North America and Europe, are all
full delegates to the conference like the adult attendees, many of them summiteers
from other big meetings.
''Children and young people are very necessary in the response to commercial
sexual exploitation of children,'' a youngster from South Africa told the opening
plenary session.
Cherry Kingsley from Canada, speaking on behalf of the NGO Group for the
Convention in the Rights of the Child, added that young people must be engaged in
the development of law policy programmes and services to make them responsive
to exploited children.
''Crucial to this understanding is the voice of vulnerable and exploited children,'' said
Kingsley, a survivor of sexual exploitation who now campaigns for child rights. ''(But)
if you see us only as victims you have missed the point. We could be leaders,
indeed many of us are.'' ''It is crucial for children to participate in this conference,''
she said at a briefing later. ''The policymakers don't know much about the issue. If
our reality is not reflected in the laws, then they are not going to be effective.''
Before the Yokohama congress opened, young people held their own meeting in
Kawasaki city and by Thursday will have a parallel declaration to that of the adults.
This is unlike the first congress in Stockholm, Sweden in 1996, when they were on
the sidelines, confined to separate activities.
But while they have agreed to speak up and experts acknowledge that their voices
need to be heard in Yokohama, the young people want to do this with a dose of
caution - given unpleasant lessons from the past.
In Stockholm, they were eager to talk to media and even held a press conference -
but just minutes later, some young people had ended up in tears. Some journalists
had asked questions like ''have you been in a brothel before?'' and the youngsters
were not prepared for such queries.
The next day, a newspaper ran a picture of one of teenagers in tears, with a caption
that said she had been a prostitute, recalled June Kane, congress communication
advisor at Stockholm and at the Yokohama meeting.
This time, young people are dealing with media at a safe distance. Journalists can
interview young people only at coordinated briefings or with a chaperone at their
side, a process that a number of journalists said they understood even if somewhat
bureaucratic.
''We all agree that young people need to be heard, because they know the subject
better than we do,'' Kane said, ''but at the time they had no training (to face media).''
''Even for adults it's something else to be prepared to field questions at a press
conference,'' she said, so this time the young people and their representatives
underwent training beforehand. The chaperone system is aimed at ''protecting the
young people if the questions become too intrusive'', she explained.
Also, officials say paedophiles' groups have been known to try to come into
conferences on child sexual exploitation and distribute material -- or argue their
case.
On Monday, a list of coverage rules were distributed to journalists along with a copy
of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) draft guidelines for reporting on
issues affecting children. ''Media contacts for youth participants will be restricted to
controlled environments -- media members will not be allowed free and unplanned
contacts with youth participants,'' the list said. ''The youth resource people must
have explicitly agreed to be put into contact with media,'' it added.
The IFJ guidelines say that even if young people who have been victims of sexual
exploitation or abuse are willing to speak up - and are effective activists and
powerful speakers -- ''some do not realise the risk they may be running in allowing
their identity/image to be revealed, the pressure that can arise out of -- even fleeting
press interest and profile.''
Based on officially available statistics, it is estimated that there are 21.6 million
children, aged between 5 and 14 years, working in south Asia out of a total of 300
million children in this age group.
Country Working Children (5-14 years) (3 ) Total number of children (5-14
years)
Bangladesh 5.05 million (4 ) 35.06 million
India 11.2 million (5 ) 210 million
Nepal 1.660 million (6 ) 6.225 million
Pakistan 3.3 million (7 ) 40 million
Sri Lanka 0.475 million (8 ) 3.18 million
The factors that generate child labour in south Asia include parental poverty and
illiteracy; social and economic circumstances; lack of awareness; lack of access to
basic and meaningful quality education and skills, and high rates of adult
unemployment and under-employment. Attitudes towards child labour
also play an important role. In south Asia, children are perceived as 'adults' at an
early stage. Children are expected to perform physical work equivalent to an adult
as early as 10 years old in some countries.
There is a great deal of commonality in the forms of child labour in south Asia, most
notably in the areas of:
Child domestic labour;
Children working in hazardous industries;
Children working in export industries;
Child trafficking (both internally and across borders);
Child bonded labour in agriculture and certain parts of the industrial and informal
sectors.
These are elaborated below:
Child domestic labour
In south Asia, child domestic labour (CDL) is culturally accepted and commonly
practised. CDL refers to situations where children are engaged to perform
domestic tasks in the home of a third party or employer. Where child domestic
labour is exploitative and includes trafficking, slavery, or practices similar to slavery,
or work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is
hazardous and likely to harm the health, safety, or morals of the child, it constitutes a
worst form of child labour as defined in the International Labour Organization (ILO)
Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No. 182), 1999.
As can be seen from the table below, CDL is prevalent in every country of South
Asia:
Country Known CDL population (9 )
Bangladesh (Dhaka) (10 ) 300,000
India (11 ) 20% of all children under 14 years working outside the family home are
in domestic service
Nepal (Kathmandu) (12 ) 62,000 children under 14 years
Pakistan (13 ) 264,000 children working in 'personal and social services'
Sri Lanka (14 ) 100,000
Children working in hazardous industries
The ILO Convention No. 182 (Article 3d) defines hazardous child labour as 'work
which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm
the health, safety, or morals of children'.
According to the Government of India, there are 2 million children working in
hazardous industries (15 ). Examples of hazardous occupations include brick
manufacturing, stone quarrying, fireworks manufacturing, lock making and
glassware production. An ILO study on hazardous child labour in Bangladesh found
that more than 40 types of economic activities carried out by children were
hazardous to them (16 ). The survey also revealed that except for light work, child
labour usually had harmful consequences on the mental and physical development
of children.
In Pakistan, it was found that of the total population of child labourers, 7 per cent
suffered from illness/ injuries frequently and 28 per cent occasionally (17 ). The
majority of children suffering from illness/injuries were found in agricultural activities.
The situation in Sri Lanka seems to be less problematic since, according to a child
activity survey (18 ), nearly 90 per cent of the working children in the age group of 5-
17 years have never experienced a health or safety hazard due to the activity in
which they were engaged. In Nepal, identified hazardous sectors include
construction, transportation and production, and especially the bidi and carpet
industries.
Children working in export industries
Export industries in South Asia employ a large number of child labourers. The main
export industries include carpet and footwear in Pakistan and India, surgical
instruments in Pakistan, and garments in Bangladesh.
In 1995, before the BGMEA/ILO/UNICEF project in Bangladesh started, nearly 43
per cent of the garment factories employed children (19 ). By 2003, this figure had
been reduced to around 1 per cent. Child labour in BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment
Manufacturers and Exporters Association) factories is now virtually zero, though it
has not completely disappeared (20 ). In Pakistan's carpet industry, which is 95 per
cent export oriented, the International Programme on the Elimination of Child
Labour (IPEC) estimates that about 206,194 children are employed as full-time
labourers (21 ).
Child prostitution, like other forms of child sexual abuse, is not only a cause of death
and high morbidity in millions of children, but also a gross violation of their rights
and dignity.
Both boys and girls can be prostituted and, according to the report, some of the
children are as young as 10 years old.
Most of these children are exploited by local men, although some are also
prostituted by pedophiles and foreign tourists.
In their report, the investigators estimate the number of children exploited by
prostitution is highest in India with estimates between 400,000 and 575,000; Brazil
is second with estimates between 100,000 and 500,000; the US is third with
300,000 children; and in fourth place is Thailand and China with 200,000 children
each.
With regard to illnesses, worldwide, millions of children are infected with sexually
transmitted diseases, have abortions, attempt suicide and are raped each year. In
parts of southeast Asia, 50% to 90% of children rescued from brothels are infected
with HIV.
A coordinated international campaign is needed to prevent child prostitution,
provide services to children who are prostituted until they can be removed from
prostitution, and implement effective recovery and reintegration programs.
For such a campaign to be successful, it will require global coordination,
implementation at national, regional and community levels, and the leadership of
many health professionals.
Sex has had a long and glorious history of clouding the minds of
those who contemplate it. The latest indication that it continues to
serve as an impediment to reasoned thought can be found in
media stories about teenage prostitution in Japan. To me, these
stories are uncomfortably reminiscent of a not dissimilar
media-induced scare in the United States of a few years back.
Readers will recall that newspapers and magazines uncovered an
escalating trend in child disappearances, and it wasn't long before
the dairy sections in Safeways from coast to coast were filled with
milk cartons carrying the photos of missing children, along with
pleas for information about their whereabouts.
Like the teenage prostitute stories, the child disappearance stories
had a sexual component, thanks to members of the Fourth Estate
conjuring up images of gypsy-like bands of pedophilic predators
snatching Dick and Jane from in front of Spot's very nose.
Unfortunately, the reality as discovered by a handful of
level-headed journalists (every bunch of apples has its
rotten-to-the-core samples), was considerably less newsworthy.
While some disappearances were the result of
abductions/murders by strangers, the majority had more innocent
explanations, ranging from children temporarily running away from
home after spats with parents to divorced moms and dads
keeping offspring with them for periods of time longer than
mandated in child-custody agreements.
Compared to child disappearance stories, teenage prostitution
stories have the fail-safe advantage for journalists of being immune
to innocent explanations: no colleague is going to come along and
spoil the moral indignation with the revelation that middle-aged
men are accidentally tripping and falling in. Middle-aged men are
obviously tripping and falling in on purpose, but in what numbers?
In writing child disappearance stories, their minds clouded by
contemplation of the sexual component, journalists conjured up
numbers of vanished kiddies that were eventually--and, one might
add, easily--exposed as being wildly overblown. Because most
sex-for-money transactions take place behind closed doors, and
are therefore much harder to quantify than child disappearances,
the likelihood of figures quoted by journalists being exposed is
substantially reduced. Ain't that a relief!
But, let's expose some of those figures anyway. Newsweek, in its
Dec. 23 cover story on teenage prostitution in Japan, quoted a
sociologist who estimated that the number of girls in 1993 who
sold their used underpants to merchants catering to dirty old men
was "between 6,000 and 10,000." Yes, and a similarly useless
estimate for the trading range of the dollar this year would be
"between ¥110 and ¥185."
When an expert tells a journalist that the answer to his/her
question is a number somewhere between x and
one-and-two-thirds x, the journalist should write down in his
notebook, "No one knows for sure." Unfortunately, "no one
knows for sure" is the five-word phrase least likely to be used by
ink-stained wretches--with the exception of "I'll pop for the next
round."
But let us concede the obvious: teenage prostitution is taking
place. This is a development to be deplored because it just is,
that's why. Since their subject matter is the latest wrinkle on the
world's oldest profession, stories about the teenage prostitution
are characterized by the same ancient, unstated assumptions that
have always characterized stories about prostitution, teenage or
otherwise.
Twenty-two years after the prostitutes union movement was
launched in Lyon, France and 24 years after America's National
Association of Women voted to decriminalize prostitution, these
stories have been characterized, first of all, by the unstated
assumption that prostitution is not a legitimate profession. From
this unstated assumption, it naturally follows that these teenaged
prostitutes are not performing any legitimate, therapeutic function
like, say, providing a few moments of happiness for a husband
trapped in a loveless marriage or a bachelor unable to find a mate
of any sort.
And despite the fact that virtually every society outside the West
regards the female as much more sexual than the male, it is an
absolute given in stories about teenage prostitution that the young
women in question do not derive any physical pleasure from what
they're doing.
Since we all know that prostitution is bad, why are these teenaged
girls doing it? Here, we enter into the Magic Kingdom of
Only-in-Japan Land. To hear The New York Times tell it, these
girls realize they are invaluable commodities in a
supply-and-demand situation unique to this country: "For
Japanese Men," reads an all-you-need-to-know headline of a
story from the paper of record," Schoolgirls Provide the Ultimate
Exotic Lure." As opposed to a Lolita-averse males in other
countries, for whom the ultimate erotic lure is a mature,
experienced, post-menopausal woman.
Even more extraordinarily inscrutable Oriental than the sight of
males salivating over females younger than they is the fact that
teenagers are choosing to go into prostitution, rather than being
forced to go into it. By the same line of reasoning, we should find
it a mind-boggling departure from the norm whenever someone
chooses to become a manual laborer, since manual labor has a
very long history of being performed by people--black slaves,
indentured white servants, underage children--who also had to be
forced into doing it. Absent the lash of coercion, doing the
horizontal mambo is surely no more or less "degrading" than
picking cotton.
Perhaps most shockingly a-historical, in the view of many
commentators, these girls are not members of the underclass
trying to escape grinding poverty, but rather members of the
middle class who want more disposable income to spend on
designer goods. Puh-leeze: for as long as there's been The Life,
there have been females getting into it with the hope of finding the
right client and thereby enriching themselves. The late Alfred
Bloomingdale's mistress did not latch onto the old goat simply to
be assured of three squares a day.
Although virtually every teenaged prostitution story I've read has
observed that this phenomenon is occurring in a country which has
along tradition of tolerating licentiousness, not one of these stories
has used this observation as a starting point for actually going
back in history to tell readers what forms this tradition has taken.
No journalist wants to visit the past if the result is to put the
present in tamer perspective.
Are there, as Newsweek claims, 364 dial-a-date "telephone
clubs" in Tokyo today? That's 36 fewer than the number of
licensed brothels operating in the city more than 100 years ago,
when the population of the Big Mikan was much smaller. We
have 6,000 to 10,000 girls selling their used undies?
Three-quarters of a century ago, brothels were filled with more
than 52,000 individuals, virtually all of them not there of their own
accord, many sold by their parents when as young as 12.
Which, by the way, is the age deemed appropriate by the State of
Massachusetts for a girl, with her parents' permission, to
marry--not that I'm suggesting we should be making cross-cultural
comparisons. Then we'd have to find an explanation why there's
something more topsy-turvy about over-20 males paying out of
their own pocket to sleep with teenaged girls, as is the case here,
and over-20 males impregnating teenaged girls and leaving the
state to pick up the bill, as is the case in the U.S.
Given the well-known desire of Western journalists to put
themselves at the center of their stories, no Western journalist has
suggested that teenaged prostitution is a direct result of teenaged
prostitutes' familiarity with Western journalism. It has been a
central tenet of Western journalism that women in this country are
trapped between a rock and a hard-on: unrewarding careers to
the left to them, men who are "boring" and "sexist" (to quote the
description from another fairly recent New York Times story) to
their right.
survey concluded that 35 percent of Cambodia's 55,000 prostitutes are children
under the age of 16. The oldest girls in the sex industry today are teenagers, says
Sao Chhoeurth, who works with AFESIP, a French NGO that rescues and
rehabilitates child prostitutes.
With recent media attention on pedophiles such as Gary Glitter in Cambodia and
Matthew Kelly in the United States of America, child prostitution and pornography
have suddenly become extremely important to Cambodia's cultural image.
With the death of Pol Pot and the end of the Khmer regime in 1998, Cambodia
prospered as a sex attraction for the many pedophiles keen on exploring new
avenues after Thailand, Vietnam and other South-East Asian nations.
The main brothel areas in Cambodia's capital city, Phnom Penh, are Toul Kork,
Keo Chandra and Svay Pak. Svay Pak, a dusty village 11 km north of Phnom Penh
was a thriving village with 50 odd brothels and child prostitutes as young as 6 years
old till last Wednesday when the police raided the village. The village which
received at least 50 tourists every night, who paid a measly US$ 3 for sex with a
child, and scores of locals is now a ghost town. No one was arrested although there
were dozens of pimps and customers in the brothels at the time of the raid.
Phnom Penh police chief General Soun Chheangly said a decision was made to
shut down Svay Pak becuase it's bad name that affects the Cambodia's cultural
reputation.
It took continuous campaigning by women's rights groups and the Mu Sochua,
Cambodia's women's affairs minister, for more than 2 years and a high profile
ASEAN meeting, for the Svay Pak raid to occur and the brothels to close down.
Only a few of the child prostitutes released from the brothels have reached AFESIP
and the Ministry of Social Welfare. The majority have been sent on to brothels in
other tourist centres, including Siem Reap, the service town for the ancient Angkor
Wat temple complex, and Sihanoukville, a popular beach resort in the south of the
country. The police action had been widely advertised in advance.
It is no secret that the brothels in Cambodia flourish because of their friendly
relations with influential officials in the Hun Sen government. Pimps are reported to
imprison young children who are virgins and not put them to work until they've been
presented to a series of bidders such as high-ranking military officers, politicians,
businessmen and foreign tourists. Much of this lucrative industry is controlled by
senior police and military officers, and successful arrests/prosecutions are rare.
Evidence is mysteriously lost, brothels are tipped off before raids, and pimps slip
their handcuffs on the way to court.
Children most at risk of becoming prostitutes in Vietnam
Duong, Le Bach / International Labour Organization (ILO) , 2002
This Rapid Assessment provides some insight into the situation of young people
involved in prostitution in Viet Nam. The bulk of the information is based on
interviews with 122 children, with brothel owners and with pimps. The report more
generally provides in depth understanding of the issues of children in prostitution.
The key findings of the research include:
the majority of child prostitutes in north and south Vietnam are between 15 and 17
only girls were found in the study of the North and a few boys were found in the
South; boys in prostitution appear to be rare
no evidence was found that young ethnic minority people were more easily tricked
into prostitution
children most at risk of becoming child prostitutes were from family types that are
poor; those lacking formal or family education, those with negative gender roles,
those suffering from value disorientation, those ridden by problems such as divorce,
separation, alcoholism, drug abuse, immorality or criminal behaviour. Essentially,
these are families that have been excluded and marginalised in the process of
economic reform and who are not reached by government economic and social
programmesThe assessments bring many institutions into the analysis and show
that the situation is much more complex than previous investigations have
indicated. Actions for combating child prostitution should therefore be undertaken at
three levels: the macro (national), the meso (provincial) and the micro
(community/family/individual). The issue of child prostitution, while not invisible,
remains unsolvable within the current legal and institutional framework. As one of
the worst forms of child labour, ethically it must be stopped through strong state
actions and strict enforcement on both supply and demand sides, particularly at the
local level, together with strong provision of livelihood alternatives.
The Burmese Military Intelligence and opportunistic businessman are preying upon
Burma’s poorest families-exploiting them for the sex industry. A serious problem
that challenges the social security of Burma’s predominately Buddhist society, a
religion that has remained broad, deep, and indelible despite decades of brutal
military rule and the denial of civil and political rights. However, since the 1990
general elections, military officers, who vigorously deny any involvement in
prostitution, have shamelessly come to dominate the sex industry for a quick profit.
“It’s a routine social entertainment for officers, they come out after dusk and after the
local electricity has been turned on, often you see the Burmese Military Intelligence
(MI) officers sneaking into hotels seeking sex and entertainment. They are jittery
about being seen by the local residents and warn the hotel staff to be alert for
onlookers before heading into the hotel,” said a local senior from the Mon political
community in Moulmein.
Many Burmese young girls in their teens work as prostitutes at the Japan and Than
Lwin hotels in Moulmein, the capital city of Mon State. Two ‘showrooms’ are
reserved (arranged) by the staff without fee for the top Burmese military and
intelligence officers, and for an unknown fee, where girls are probably bartered for a
high price, the hotel staff is obliged to pick beautiful girls for selection, virgins are a
special request, and a full course dinner complements any transaction.
“Young girls, mostly from the restaurants in Moulmein are to be on call and available
for providing sex”, said Min Nyan, a Moulmein university student. There are about
thirty restaurants in Moulmein, but the massage rooms provide service to the
officers as well, local sources say.
Aye Aye is a girl from Rangoon works in Ye, south from Moulmein, who found
herself alone and unable to pay the high tuition fees at the university, she easily
found work as a prostitute to help pay for the costs. As she is young and fairly
attractive, she earns a substantial amount of money, but her boss, a Burmese MI,
takes a large share of her earnings. “Therefore, her personal income is unable to
help support her family as well, which only adds to her personal shame of being a
prostitute”, said a local Mon Newspaper reporter investigating the story.
Girls often are reserved for the MI and top army officials and don’t receive any pay
on their first day, let alone their choice of a client. The economy in Burma offers little
work opportunities to youth from villages, and working at a decent job requires
education and experience, girls from the poorer families are more at risk of being
encouraged to sell their bodies. “No choices for young people, no support, no
guidance or asylum, so most become prostitutes and work full time, seven days a
week, like the poorer ones who fail the 10th standard, unable to pursue their studies
they work in the sex industry to support themselves”, said a Mon social worker.
Many feel they have no choice, but survival and helping their families to buy even the
most basic of things, such as food and clothing can be a possible source of esteem
for some.
According to students from Moulmein University, about thirty girls at Kyaw
Restaurant in Moulmein, young as fifteen, offer their services at a cost of Kyat 3,500
per hour, the source added. Younger girls at the restaurants often apply heavy make
up to make themselves look older and change their appearance daily to please
customers, especially at the Ramanya Restaurant, where older girls are sidelined to
work the tables.
Major Lin Oo, a popular, but corrupt Burmese army officer just opened a restaurant
in La Mine, northern Ye Township where many young girls work. La Maine is located
between Ye and ThanPhyu Zayat highway where many local businessmen
temporarily stay. The girls wear sexy dresses in the late evening and regularly walk
about the village in order to attract local customers. This restaurant is known as
‘London’s Breast’ because girls sell London Cigarettes from a tray held in front of
their breasts to customers entering the restaurant. According to recent gossip, Maj
Lin Oo’s is having marital problems with his wife who had an affair with a young
man from La Maine village in February; the restaurant has been temporarily closed
locals say due to the incident.
Most restaurants are owned or partly owned by the Burmese MI in Mon State but
local ordinary businessmen have a stake in the business allowing them to operate
restaurants and other luxury businesses. A restaurant named ‘Ka-pya Ser Yeik
Myone’ is owned by the Chairman of the Local Peace and Development Council,
near Rail Way Station in Ye Town. Some other Burmese army officials also have an
illegal share in the business as does in Moulmein or other local businessmen
operating in Mon State.
The restaurants have become exclusively for military clients, with local residents
frequently being turned away if a proper identification card is not presented upon
entering, like the Ramanya Restaurant. Girls, 13 and 14 years old work solely to
support poor families at several restaurants in Rangoon, the capital city of Burma.
Often the girls make deals with hotel staff, like Ngwe Moe hotels in Rangoon and
Moulmein that have an on call service under arrangement with the hotel staff who
receive a commission. Girls in Mon state receive Kyat 2,000 in the local town, but
girls in Three Pagodas Pass and border areas make as much as Baht 200-400 per
customer. (Black currency exchange rate is Kyat between 25 per Baht 1)
For the poorer families of the population, no family or state security is provided for
the younger people, who now more than ever face a dismal future. Many are either
forced or encouraged to work as prostitutes in Mon State while others are abducted
or raped, often in front of their families and the community, and in many cases
beaten and killed by Burmese soldiers. Thousands more make their way across the
border to Thailand at the hands of traffickers sold without their consent and become
prisoners as bonded labour. Although largely patriarchal, Thai brothels under the
command of a “Mama San” command the girls like slaves, woman operators in the
sex industry believe they are doing the girls a service by protecting and providing
them with a livelihood.
Even more alarming given the recent UN estimate of the high rate of HIV/AIDS in
Burma, sex workers are not encouraged to use condoms, a ploy to attract regular
customers not wanting to use them, many thousands more are illiterate regarding
HIV/AIDS and don’t use condoms. BaYinMa (Queen) restaurant in Ye town is known
as a place that does not encourage its use, as a way to attract local customers.
After the general elections in 1990 and the denial of democratic reform, the current
military authority allowed its senior officers to run private businesses to earn extra
income especially in the non-Burman nationality areas, including the border areas
that attract international tourists. Most looked to the sex industry for a quick profit
and built hostels and restaurants without legal licenses, and at the expense of a
whole generation of youth that provided the labour needed over the years, the sex
industry flourished and fuelled the black market economy. While local border towns
grew rapidly, the past 10 years has seen the standard of living for the vast majority
of the population dropping considerably. With no choices or work options offered by
the military dictatorship and with virtually no future prospects in a shattered
economy, the many students leaving high school turn to the sex industry to make
money for survival. Culturally, Burma is a Buddhist society and has been for over a
thousand years, now it faces an unprecedented social crisis with many young
people making the second choice left to them, by packing up and leaving to
neighboring countries, the ones left, face poverty, exploitation and isolation.
It is hard to get inside the mind of any person but even more so inside that of a
Japanese person. A great many non-Japanese people try to do that without
speaking the language and that makes it even harder. No wonder there is so much
misunderstanding about the lives of Japanese school girls. Japan has close to
100% literacy, Japanese high school graduates consistently score among the
highest in Math compared to other developed countries, and Japanese girls do
even better than boys academically and the fact is that some of them do engage in
enjo kosai or, in other words, be intimate with mostly older men for money.
This fact of Japanese life, if not understood without complete context, sounds
repulsive. Most non-Japanese people analyze this situation by saying, “Oh! These
teenage girls have no idea about the risks that they are putting themselves to – both
physical and emotional. There should be a law banning all this”. We believe that
enjo kosai is definitely not a healthy practice but here are some facts about
Japanese society that better explain the background of this trend in Japan. Haruka
writes on our message board, "First of all, I do admit that prostitution can be more
respected than those who don't even try to work (not being willing to work differs
from not being able to work, of course). As the Japanese phrase "karada wo hatte"
refers to, you are working by using what all you've got. However, I wonder if you can
proudly tell your children in the future "I was earning money by being intimate with a
number of random strangers." I think not. If you can't be proud of or honest about
what you've done to everybody, then you must be doing something "wrong." If you
ever have a chance, please read a couple of books written by Ryu Murakami."
Japanese teenagers lead lives that cannot be supported by pocket money and after-
school jobs that they typically have. Many of them will use designer clothes and
accessories and the usual teenage entertainment like trips to karaoke and malls
(with train/taxi fares and meals) gradually add up.
Japanese parents have practically no influence on the schedules and activities of
their children. The country is so safe that children can be out at any time of the day
without causing any worry to their parents. That freedom can be easily misused by
children when they grow up into teenagers.
Japanese people are unique in terms of engaging in physical intimacy without
necessarily thinking of it as an emotional and physical activity. In the Japanese
mind, intimacy is primarily a physical activity for satisfaction of physical desire.
Most people will, of course, do it with someone they love but they will not see
anything wrong to do it with a person they do not or cannot love as long as the act
itself is pleasurable.
There are certain things that Japanese people consider too impolite to discuss.
Thus, your private life is, well, private and you can keep it that way without any
pressure from your parents or your spouse/partner even if you live with these people.
Unfortunately, we do not expect much to happen since the Government of Japan is
dominated by middle-aged men some of whom probably engage in these acts
themselves. Secondly, no one in Japan openly admits of this being a problem, and
therefore, would claim that there is no need to fix something that does not exist.
Finally, it is appears to be a win-win situation for both men and the girls involved
though in a rather sad way. As Jim comments, "While it might be a win-win
situation for the man and the girl, the end result is not favorable for the girl. The girl
only wants two things - the great pleasure that the act brings and the instant
gratification of making fairly easy money for the luxury items she wants. The young
girls are so fashionable and only wear the very best and most current clothing. I
don't think the activity will stop. Are the love hotels going to close? No. Are men
and women in Japan going to stop cheating on each other? No. Are the girls and
women alike, going to stop wearing high heels and short, short mini dresses? No.
This practice of the young girl being intimate with a much older man, perhaps even
older than her father and the Japanese culture for not discussing such problems in
an open forum will allow this practice to continue until it finally becomes yet another
of those complex traits of the Japanese people".
A Taipei resident was arrested in April last year after a vice squad discovered him
trying to recruit pedophiles online for a group tour of China. Police seized ten
master discs of child pornography and thousands of copies at the home of Yang
Chih-hung, 32. During the investigation that followed, Yang admitted he had filmed
them on his previous brief visit to China. Between March 10 and 15, 2004, he told
investigators, he had sex with 11 girls, all of them below 16 years of age, and had
all the bed scenes shot to make the master discs. Four of the Chinese juvenile
prostitutes were less than 14 years old. He paid 200 RMB (renminbi -- Chinese
dollars) for each two hours he spent with them at his hotel at Dongguan near
Guanzhou, opposite Hong Kong. Investigators even saw him all but rape a 12-year-
old on the video. They heard her scream in agony while trying to resist the assailant.
With more than enough evidence to convict Yang, a Panchiao district prosecutor
indicted him at the beginning of this year. But the prosecutor, citing "extenuating
circumstances" to extending leniency, demanded a sentence of two years, which
would be suspended for five years. A district court judge complied on April 17. The
case was closed. Chang is free. If he commits no crime in the next five years, he will
have no criminal record. The extenuating circumstances cited included the "tender
age" of the man who had no criminal record and much more important, his donation
of NT$800,000 for public charities. In particular, the lenient prosecutor took into
consideration the fact that it was Chang's first offense and the possibilities that
when sent to prison, he might develop "bad habits" that he would find hard to kick
after release. According to the Criminal Code, anyone found to have sex with a
juvenile under 16 years of age shall be sentenced to no less than three but not over
ten years in prison. If found to have forced sex on the juvenile, the offender should
be given a sentence of seven years or more. A sale of child pornography,
moreover, is punishable by an incarceration of one to seven years.One extenuating
circumstance not cited, however, must be the fact that the crime was committed in
China and the victims were Chinese. Had the crime taken place in Taiwan, would
the prosecutor and the judge have dared to let Chang off the hook with practically no
punishment? Or were they just trying to be politically correct to go along with the
undeclared hate-China policy of the government?
Hong Kong: loud, decadent, exotic, dazzling day and night with flashing, brilliant,
multicolored lights. Quite a contrast from Paris -- the serene, romantic city of
warmth, hope and dreams that I had just left. Hong Kong's streets were lined with
makeshift shelters used to sell meager goods by day, and as shelters by night for
some of the million Chinese who had escaped the tyranny of the Communist regime
on the mainland.
The ex-pat community and the elite Hong Kong Chinese, on the other hand, had
built multi-million-dollar empires that were symbolized by high-rises, skyscrapers,
mansions with servants, luxury Chinese junks and decadent lifestyles. East had met
West, the self-indulgent nouveau-riche living side-by-side with the impoverished
homeless in the most exciting, free-spirited British colony on the planet.
I was studying International Law at Hong Kong University and interning with a
Chinese law firm that consisted of some 20 male Chinese lawyers. On Thursday
nights, my Chinese attorney hosts would invite me to their clubs, for a "man's" night
out, where we would play Mahjongg until the wee hours of the morning after having
been fed feasts fit for royalty. During the course of the evening, delicately beautiful
Chinese girls would circulate until each of the men decided which of the
"hostesses" he was to spend the night with. Dressed in elegant native Chinese
evening gowns, the girls floated around naturally with all of the arrogance of fairytale
princesses until they had been chosen by their prince. Not ready for this new
lifestyle, I would graciously excuse myself when it was time for the men to take their
prizes to their rooms, and my hosts would provide a limo that would take me home. I
didn't dwell on the routine, which I soon learned was commonplace with foreign
businessmen as well, and the thought never hit me as to the youth of the girls since I
was nearly their age, two decades younger than my hosts. I just figured: different
culture, a different lifestyle.
I had met a most jovial, gracious and boisterous Australian journalist for the
Reader's Digest who took me regularly to the lively Foreign Press Club on Ice
House Street and introduced me to members of the ex-pat community. He was
inseparable from his even more boisterous, heavy-drinking, opium-appreciating
Chinese buddy, the son of a Chinese warlord who had escaped the Mao
massacres. The two bragged about going to Bangkok for the weekend because the
son of the warlord liked "little girls." I didn't realize until I had seen the war lord's son
in Bangkok with the same U.S. Colonel friend he had partied with in Hong Kong a
few years later that the "little girls" that they went to "play with" were merely
adolescents.
My career subsequently carried me to the transitioning Russia, Poland, Hungary,
the Middle East and the violently disintegrating Yugoslavia. In the former Eastern
Bloc, especially in Budapest, the streets were swarming with scantily dressed,
largely young and often breathtakingly beautiful hookers. Any Westerner could have
had their choice among many who desired to escape their poor, hopeless
existence. Occasionally, I would notice with some humor an old man being hustled
by a young prostitute or with some embarrassment catch a glimpse of an old man
pawing a young girl as he took the elevator up to his hotel room.
East Indian girl holds sign condemning child prostitution, in Calcutta rally by school
children and social workers to heighten awareness of problem of child prostitution,
during International Anti-Child Labor day.
When in Bosnia, I was chatting with some MPRI (Military Professional Resources,
Inc.) retired officers training the new army and integrating Croatian and Bosnian
military units into a national army. One retired Colonel told me of the abuses by
peacekeepers, specifically relating an incident in which he had met three
peacekeepers in Cambodia who had purchased a 13-year-old Cambodian virgin to
service the three of them during the one-year tour of duty.
"She told me that the oral sex was better, since it wasn't so painful," he said.
Wherever the soldiers and the peacekeepers were, the girls flocked, with their
short, tight skirts and exposed chests. Whether in the war-torn Bosnia, in Kosovo, or
in peaceful Panama, the soldiers had their pick of what appeared to me a lot of
willing players. As I began to recognize more and more the plight of many of the
innocents in the sex trade, I began to do my share by giving an occasional lecture in
my international law class or by convincing Soldier of Fortune not to run any more
"Mail-Order Bride" ads, as I believed that the industry was shady, to say the least.
Recently, I was at an open-house in a penthouse suite in the Mirage in Las Vegas,
hosted by a manufacturer of M-4 accessories for the special operations community.
A Filipino present, who worked with the peacekeepers deployed to the Philippines,
asked me bluntly: "You write about the rights of thugs like terrorists in your military
tribunal articles and write with some distaste about the treatments of terrorists who
are tortured. Why have you not written about a large group of helpless victims and
their rights?" In the Philippines, as in India, Cambodia, and other impoverished
countries, he told me, many families sell their daughters for $350. That sum
supports the families for one year.
"Or how about the U.S. executive who, after he had been killed in a plane wreck,
had his estate sued by a group of Asian girls, [each of whom] he had gotten
pregnant. During his business trip, the executive would round-up teenage virgins,
get them pregnant and take off." In his warped world, the man believed he was
propagating whatever his greatness was.
Nothing had prepared me for even a glimpse into that unimaginable hell that the
sexual slavery trade has become.
With all the trappings of a horror show -- a cast of players that span from corrupt
government officials, to slimy underground characters, to the most vulnerable
victims, to zealous human rights workers on the other hand -- the trafficking in
women and children for sex has reached nightmare proportions. Add desperate,
poverty-stricken family members, lecherous and greedy recruiting agents, and
reckless or perverted clients in pursuit of cut-rate pleasure, and the outcome is
appalling and tragic.
As the gap between the rich and poor widens, criminal mafias in Russia and
Eastern Europe, Asia and throughout the world operate without constraints across
transparent borders. Accelerating international trade, booming and uncontrolled
Internet and media pornography and ever-increasing tourism pave a fertile path for
what is becoming one of the world's most profitable traded commodities -- women
and child prostitutes.
Readily available pornography, erotic phone calls, call-girls and hostesses, sexually
provocative shows -- strip-tease or sex-shows -- mail-order brides, street
prostitution, brothels, massage parlors, enclaves of displaced soldiers or migrant
workers have created the demand and supply for an estimated 4 million women and
children trafficked internationally yearly. Skyrocketing profits exceeding 7 billion
dollars a year according to UN statistics, and a staggering 12 billion according to
the International Organization for Migration estimates. And those statistics only
reflect reported figures in an industry that is largely underground and invisible.
As international tourism is vital for economic growth, many governments, aware that
the most marketable commodity is their subjects' bodies, promote the growth to
epic proportions, of prostitution, sex tours, brothels, and massage parlors. Corrupt
government officials satisfy both their physical lust as well as their greed by
exploiting and expediting the sale of those whom they are self-appointed or elected
to protect.
"The oldest profession on earth" has evolved into one that is a virtual slavery,
savagely forced upon its laborers. As profits soar, and the killer AIDS reaches
epidemic proportions, the forced laborers are getting younger, some only five years
old.
"This is happening wherever you look now," said Michael Platzer, the Vienna,
Austria-based head of operations for the U.N.'s Center for International Crime
Prevention. "The Mafia is not stupid. There is less law enforcement since the Soviet
Union fell apart and more freedom of movement. The earnings are incredible. The
overhead is low -- you don't have to buy cars and guns. Drugs you sell once and
they are gone. Women can earn money for a long time."
Cambodian policeman escorts 11-year-old Vietnamese girl from brothel in Toul
Kork red-light district of Phnom Penh: Six girls from 11-13 years of age were
rescued from brothel that offered only young children. Trafficked from Vietnam,
children were rescued during sting operation involving Cambodian Interpol and
local police, led by End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking (ECPAT).
"Also," he added, "the laws help the gangsters. Prostitution is semi-legal in many
places and that makes enforcement tricky. In most cases punishment is very light.
In some countries, Israel among them, there is not even a specific law against the
sale of human beings." In some countries, such as in Africa, there are actual
markets where women are sold in the streets for $400-$800.
"Think about this," he said, "200 million people are victims of contemporary forms
of slavery. Most aren't prostitutes, of course, but children in sweatshops, domestic
workers, migrants. During four centuries, 12 million people were believed to be
involved in the slave trade between Africa and the New World. The 200 million --
and many of course are women who are trafficked for sex -- is a current figure. It's
happening now. Today."
Not only is sexual slavery rampant in the Western world, but westerners promote its
growth abroad. Men seek thrills that might be illegal in their own countries. "If you
want extremely young girls, or generally speaking, if you want something for which
you could get 'hanged' in your own country, you can find it in these places without the
risk of getting hanged. You can expect a nod of the head, the Asian clasp of the
hands, all accompanied by a 'thank you.' " (Excerpts from Third World Movement
Against Exploitation of Women.)
Or, even more disgusting, men are encouraged to do good deeds: As a German
tourist brochure boasted: "When you screw here, you may not do it for Germany but
you certainly do it for the welfare of Kenya."
In a five-year study conducted by the NGO End Child Prostitution in Asia (ECPAT),
data compiled for the 160 foreign males who were arrested by the police forces of
Asian countries because of sex abuse against prostitute minors revealed these
countries of origin: 40 abusers from the U.S.A., 28 from Germany, 22 from
Australia, 19 from the U.K., 10 from France; Japan, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden,
Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa were
also on the list.
Don't Desecrate My Buddah
In Bangkok's infamous Patpong district, an Australian paid for sex with two sisters --
one 12 and the other six. The pimp who had purchased the girls from their parents
took them to the tourist's hotel room, where they were abused and photographed for
months. A photo-shop owner developed one of the tourist's photos that displayed a
tiny gold Buddha inserted in the older girl's vagina. Outraged, the shop-owner sent
the picture to Sanphasit Koompraphant, Director of the Center to Protect Children's
Rights, a local children's rights group. "The owner did not anger because a child
was treated so cruelly," Koompraphant says, "but because his Buddhist religion
had been insulted. He probably would not notice another object used that way."
Betty Rogers recounts the story in a special report "Bitter Harvest."
A Fevered Priest
Pia Agustin Corvera's aunt sold her from the age of nine in the slums of Manila for
120 pesos -- $3 -- for each encounter. At the age of 12, she was sold to a visiting
German pedophile. At 16, Pia was under the protection of a center run by a 57-year-
old Irish priest, the Rev. Shay Cullen. The tiny Filipino girl told a journalist of her
experiences: "I felt like garbage."
Pia's abuser was one of the few who was convicted. After he jumped bail in Manila
and fled back to Germany, the priest and Pia went to Germany to testify, and the
pedophile received a 3-1/2-year jail sentence.
Cullen's obsession to help exploited children was launched in 1982 when he met
nine, 12- and 13-year-olds with venereal disease in a local health clinic run by nuns.
"The kids said they had been used by American sailors, but the naval authorities
told us to keep quiet so they could catch the perpetrators," Cullen told one reporter.
But in dozens of cases, he charges, the Navy shipped-out suspects to avoid
prosecution.
Filipino children, victims of child prostitution, wait to testify before Philippine
Congressional committee on child prostitution and human rights, as 200 street
children rallied, in a downpour outside, in support.
Olongapo, former home of the huge U.S. naval base at Subic Bay, and Angeles
City, near the former U.S. Air Force base at Clark Field, accommodated U.S.
service personnel's sexual demands. Cullen's problems were hardly over after the U.
S. military departed in 1992, however, as Filipino pimps turned Angeles and
Olongapo into two of the Pacific region's most "rancid fleshpots." The 10-year war
in Vietnam contributed to the explosion of a sex industry outside the bases.
Bangkok became a major center for Rest and Recreation (R & R) leave, commonly
known the by GIs as I & I (Intoxication and Intercourse). Authorities passed
legislation to aid the sex business and "support the boys," such as the
Entertainment Act, which included a policy called "Hired Wife Services." By the mid-
70s there were 800,000 prostituted Thai women. When the war ended, the Thai
government, accustomed to the high profits, promoted sex-tour travel agencies
established by a group of high-ranking Thai military generals' wives. From 1965 to
1993, the number of tourists grew from 250,000 to over 5 million.
And, adds Sister Sol Perpinan of Third World Movement Against Exploitation of
Women, it is estimated that by the mid-80s the sex industries around the bases in
the Philippines had generated more than $500 million. At the end of the war in
Vietnam, Saigon had 500,000 prostituted women -- equal to the population of
Saigon before the war.
The Myth Of The Virgin
As Interpol's Agnes Fournier de Saint Maur, who tracks global child sex trends,
says, the demand comes not only from pedophiles but from individuals "eager to
push the envelope of carnal exploration."
Virgins are in great demand among Chinese from Taiwan, Singapore and Hong
Kong, Michael Satchell, writes in an extensive article on the topic in Preda. Chinese
men prize sexual intercourse with young girls for the rejuvenating properties they
believe to be associated with the act. According to O'Grady, "there are surprisingly
large number of aging and wealthy Chinese businessmen who believe that they
must deflower a virgin at least once a year to gain the energy needed to be
successful in their business enterprise and have a long life".
In India, Devadasis, (handmaidens of God), are dedicated to the goddess
Yelamma in secret ceremonies. Most of the girls brought into the Devadasi system
will become human cargo in the sex traffic in cities like Bombay, where sex can be
bought for less than the price of a bottle of beer. Hunger, poverty and superstition
are the root causes of a practice which sees parents or relatives sell a daughter to
a pimp or brothel for $150 to $200. The cult also entraps a handful of boys, known
as Jogappas, who are made to become transvestite prostitutes.
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Most people have no idea how large the problem truly is.
